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Cleveland Flats fight pits city, owners
Monday, March 19, 2007
CLEVELAND — A court fight over redeveloping a sagging riverfront bar district will test an Ohio Supreme Court ruling over when governments may seize land for private developers.
The Port Authority, working with the city and a developer, is set to argue in court this week that it has the authority to take nine properties in the Cleveland Flats area because they haven't been able to negotiate a selling price with the owners.
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If Cuyahoga County Probate Judge John E. Corrigan rules in the government's favor, a jury would set the price.
The property owners say they haven't been offered fair prices for their properties to make way for the $230 million Flats East Bank Neighborhood, planned by developer Scott Wolstein.
William Droe wants $5 million for his land, he said Friday, despite having once dropped his asking price to $3.5 million. The port started its offer at $1 million and raised that to $1.7 million.
In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that cities can take land for shopping malls or other private development — but left room for state courts to restrict government property seizures based on their own constitutions.
Ohio tightened that provision last year when the state Supreme Court ruled that private development on its own — even when it will improve economic conditions — isn't a public use warranted under the Ohio Constitution. That case affected a plan by the city of Norwood near Cincinnati.
Both sides in the Flats case say the Norwood decision supports their position.
